Barbarita, Habana, Cuba, July, 2011

During the last few days I decide to visit the families and share my thoughts regarding our work. Along with the discussion, photographs from the previous visits are shared as well.

During one such visit, we experience one family living in a new place. At first sight it seems to me that this is their place of work. The apartment is little more than a single, small room. When we enter the bed is to the right and the tiny kitchen is to the left, with a small aisle separating the bed from the cabinet hosting the stereo and television.

There is barely enough room for us to stand, let alone sit. We spend time with Barbarita and her mother, as well as the owner of the home who is also being attended to by our friends.

The man is an elderly man, quite friendly and open to our visit. He is missing one leg and lives alone without a family, therefore needing the assistance provided by our dearest friends. We share the photographs from the previous year and decide to make an appointment to return and make new portraits for Barbarita. We bid farewell for the time being and head out to the next family.

Once outside I ask my friend Eldo a question: 'Do they get paid well for this work?'

Hearing this, Eldo is surprised at my lack of understanding and proceeds to educate me on their situation. As it turns out, Barbarita and her mother are working for the possibility of inheriting the tiny apartment. The elderly man, lacking a family, is able to include them in his will and pass on the rights to his home in exchange for their assistance during his final years. They receive nothing in terms of payment during his lifetime. It is the promise of a future home for which they labor.

'A lesson a day' they say. On this day, it is perhaps a volume.

On my next visit to her home, I am greeted by her mother, sister and brother-in-law. Without a translator we have a conversation regarding our collaboration. A few years earlier Barbarita's mother decided that her daughter's photographs can be made but only for my personal portfolio. She was content with this and decided against the publication of the portraits and the sale of the prints.

During the second visit, Barbarita's mother seems a bit anxious and nervous at the same time. She is trying to tell me something but is having a hard time telling me so. My understanding of Spanish is acceptable but nuances cannot be understood. With the help of her son-in-law, we achieve clarity. Her mother explains to me their plight at this time, the hardships they are facing and the difficulty in even obtaining the smallest of items for her daughter. Things that can be taken for granted back home are nearly impossible to purchase for her.

With this in mind, and with the portraits we have made over five years, she asks me to present her daughter's work in order to educate the world about their life and also to perhaps help in any way possible through the sale of the portraits.

Should the readers of this entry be interested in helping in any way possible, perhaps through a purchase of her print, then I would be more than glad to have such a conversation.

In the end, the purpose of the work is as her mother desires, nothing else.

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Fatouma, Bekaa Valley, Lebanon, Summer, 2005

Just today sixty rolls of 400 ASA film is ordered from New York for the upcoming Cuban trip.

On my mind during the order is the portrait of Fatouma above. It has been over six years since both this image and my use of anything but slower film. For this trip to Cuba, it is my intention to make images both in direct sunlight and in subdued light.

Since Fatouma's portrait six years ago, many visits to her home have been made and her portrait repeated. This first image is perhaps considered the easiest one for me of her, for she was a stranger to me then. Ironically as she has gotten to know me she has become a bit more shy.

Usually she allows herself to be photographed on the first day, perhaps in response to the pictures handed out and to the excitement of the other children. Then upon subsequent trips during the same two week visit, she becomes withdrawn in the sweetest of ways and goes about her chores which range from gathering water to tending to the sheep to washing clothes.

To see her tending to a dozen or so animals, all the while she is less than half of one animal's weight, is incredibly fascinating. She lacks fear and approaches each task without trepidation. She is a most confident young girl and asserts herself in response to either girls or boys. On my last trip, she denied me her portrait in the tradition of girls from the area growing up.

She however lives in my memory through the portrait above. I will still visit her as long as she will allow it. Perhaps one day I will photograph her daughter, at least until I am denied her portrait as well.

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Halim Ina Photography

One With Clear Eyes, Outside of Havana, Cuba, July, 2010

Many have seen her since the first portrait back in 2005.

In that portrait she walks out of the water, barely allows her hair to dry and sits down on the sidewalk across from the famous Malecon to let a complete stranger make her portrait in less than five minutes.

On this day and five years later, she stands in front of her house early in the morning with her hair up and gives me two hours to make her portrait. She wakes up by 7:00 a.m. on a summer morning and walks back from her friend's house for us.

The day before, she tells me with a smile: 'You can come back as many times as you like.'

I thought she was lost on me two years before, as she experienced the turbulence of her teenage years. Although still a teenager in this portrait, she displays a calmness beyond her years. While my hands fumble around for the next roll of film in excitement, she smiles and chuckles.

If she is the only person in Cuba to photograph, she is reason enough for me to go in less than two weeks. She is the girl with the clear eyes, and this is just the beginning of her story.

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Halim Ina Photography

Dancer, Portrait by Eldo, Roof of Home, Havana, Cuba, July, 2010

Two years ago her portrait was made in front of the ballet school. In front of perhaps fifty people, students and parents of students, she stood tall and allowed two rolls to be exposed. Her mother gently helped her along through the process, proud to see her child so strong and graceful.

On this day, after much hard work by Eldo in search of her home, she suddenly arrives with a young family member for her portrait. This is a complete shock for me, since we have been trying really hard to find her. Eldo it seems wanted this to be a surprise.

She comes dressed for her performance. The temperature is by now above any comfort zone, and the color of her fabric absorbs even more so the sun, high in the sky by now. Nonetheless she closes her eyes and stretches her hands out, holding her poses for minutes at a time. She never once complains and is kind enough to allow my instructions in a limited Spanish.

For over an hour and during one of the hottest, most humid days, she performs for us. The young man also grants us his patience and kindness, helps her along and explains what is difficult for me to communicate. The respect she shows me will always be remembered. Here is a girl that has come from a home far away, dressed in her uniform while other children are playing in the streets of her neighborhood. She has a discipline that most lack, a love that few have ever seen.

Just today I received an email from Eldo. As I was scanning her negatives in preparation for my visit this July, he was visiting her family on my behalf. The news of my visit was shared with them and their response was like her response one year ago, one represented in her portrait above.

People often ask me: why do you visit these people? Do you fail to realize the importance of your family here?

I can only point them in the direction of the young girl above and hope that they understand.

halim.ina@gmail.com
Halim Ina Photography

Kamoy Magazine, Spirit Issue, Nerissa Irving Collaboration, June, 2011

The publication of my work in the Spirit Issue of Kamoy Magazine has been made possible through an incredible collaboration with Nerissa Irving, Editor in Chief and Creative Director.

The images within and their stories are in honor of the girls of Rajasthan.

'With this presentation and with much gratitude to Ms. Nerissa Irving, we hope that people will feel compelled to promote girls education in this most beautiful part of the world. Over the span of ten years, Humana People to People India has operated girls schools in these villages, all with the permission and knowledge of the parents. while an education is most elusive to girls in their situation, these young women have been able to attend classes usually headed by a young woman from their own village, serving as an example to them and their friends.'

'Unfortunately, these dozen schools were closed last year due to a general lack of funding. The good people of Humana People to People India have turned to me, to the good citizens of this world, to view the education of these girls as the education of their own. Our hope is that the readers of this wonderful publication will find inspiration through these images, through this story, and present incredible ideas culminating in the reopening of the schools. Perhaps a bake sale will surface, perhaps a collaboration with a local girls school, perhaps even a print purchase through my website. Regardless of the method, the intention will be most appreciated and treasured by the girls of Rajasthan, India.'

This is our hope. For a copy of this issue, you may click below.

Kamoy Magazine: The Spirit Issue

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Halim Ina Photography

Girl, Student, Friend, Humana People to People, Rajasthan, India, November 15, 2009

On the sixteenth roll of film, the sixth click of the shutter represents the image above.

Before the shutter is released, a few variables need to be attended to however. In this village and the year before this portrait, the school faithfully run by the foundation had to be closed due to funding shortages. The mood has changed since then, understandably so.

On this afternoon, I arrive without the good people of the foundation, dropped off by my friend and left to fend for myself. It's a little early and so I decide to wait an hour for the sun to set more so. A few of the older girls come around, but mostly it is the boys and men that gather. At first they are quiet, then the younger boys become restless.

They do what boys do around the world from my experience, test the limits. They first begin with words, and laughter. This is easy to handle because smiling back seems to entertain them. However, when this fails they begin to touch the equipment, to ask to be photographed.

The girls feel badly but cannot do anything to stop the boys. In years past, the people from the foundation would make sure that such never happened because we would photograph the girls on the roof of the school without any boys around. In this case however I am on their land and it's their place to do as they wish.

This goes on for about an hour until a few of the older boys feel it within themselves to help out. One gets a chair and we begin to organize the girls. This is my first experience doing so by myself, without the foundation. Many of the girls want to be photographed but cannot volunteer in front of the boys. A few do however and we end up walking to the field like last year.

We place the chair and the girls bravely begin to take their places. They are of course outnumbered perhaps four to one by the boys, and the noise of the place is almost as overwhelming even in an open field. We do manage however to begin the portraits and the girls ignore everything but the camera. More so than any year before this experience, I realize the difficulty of this work for the girls, and its importance.

The older boys are very helpful however and throughout the entire session they need to constantly remove boys from the foreground and the background. After about an hour, this young girl approaches. She was hiding back in the village and came out once she realized perhaps that it was safe for her. It takes me a minute but then I recognize her eyes, her neck and her stance.

Once she sees my delight, she smiles and stands for her portrait. The result can be seen above.

Her school is still closed to this day. I hope better for her and her younger sisters and will continue in my efforts to reopen the school in this village.

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Widow, Glasses, Mosque Courtyard, Zakat Foundation of India, Old Delhi, India, 2008

Like many women in her widowed situation, she has been left to defend for herself and for her children. Instead of being looked after by her community, she belongs to the majority receiving nothing from the State and lacking a pension.

In many instances, life after the death of the husband is a life waiting for death itself. So many women are married when quite young to men much older than them. As a result, the death of their husbands leaves them as young women with children and without a security net. The stories are endless, the humiliation eternal.

Depending on position and caste, some of these women are forced to shave their heads, others refrain from wearing jewelry or from presenting their beauty to the world. They are to remain invisible for the rest of their lives, almost as a means to relieve Society from its conscience. With over 40,000,000 widows in existence, this leaves a void difficult to ignore.

One can see them on the streets, going about their day trying to form a life for themselves and their children. While the news portrays advances in their State's well-being, they tend to the homes of others for just enough to eat and little else. This is a most difficult existence and one made even more extreme by the social norms of the day.

Some will say that India has changed, that such practices have disappeared. It is my place only to describe the images created by me, the lives of the people represented within. For them, little has improved in their lives. The humiliation of presenting themselves in front of complete strangers for a sack full of rice is glaringly apparent. While making their portraits serves to support the foundation helping them, the difficulty in the portraiture could never be avoided.

Here are women that are in this position, standing in front of a stranger to have their picture made. I am a witness to their humiliation and yet another source of humiliation. It is the rape victim being forced to make pictures of her bruises, both external and internal.

The photograph in the end will hopefully tell her story without taking anything away from her.

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Widow, Glasses, Mosque Courtyard, Zakat Foundation of India, Old Delhi, India, 2008

What has she done other than lose her husband?

She wakes up one day without a spouse and finds herself without the support of the rest of her family. Her family has thrown her out, views her as a burden and at times a bad fortune. She wanders the streets asking perfect strangers for help when her own family is unwilling to offer the same.

One foundation is doing more for her than her own family. She receives a month's supply of goods from Zakat Foundation of India, due to the generosity of individuals according to their Muslim faith. The foundation helps the donors estimate their giving, enabling them to both adhere to their beliefs and to help someone else in need.

The effect of their giving is immediately felt on the other side of town, where a group of women are gathered today near the local mosque, next door to a medical clinic also run by the foundation that provides medical care to the indigent, to the homeless and to those without a single thread of support from Society.

On the street level, good work is being done daily by good people and out of the spotlight. The doctor of the clinic is barely noticed as nurses go about their routine, as patients walk in and out of the pharmacy. Here babies are delivered with care and love, and pride exists on the faces of the parents like under any other healthy environment.

Making portraits under these circumstances brings limitless value to my work, to my life.

You may learn more about this wonderful foundation by clicking below.

Zakat Foundation of India

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Halim Ina Photography

Widow, Courtyard of Mosque, Zakat Foundation of India, Old Delhi, India, November, 2008

Like the previous images of widows in my blog, the courtyard of a mosque is the scene for this portrait. The courtyard is open to the sky and for an hour or so allows direct light at a low angle against a white wall.

The wall is next to an area of washing hands and feet, where men gather to do so before prayers. So men are doing such constantly while we are making portraits. This is incredible due to the fact that we are photographing covered women in a mosque, with their acceptance and permission.

Over 40,000,000 women in India are widows, countless of them experience hardships like the woman above. For many, the remaining years are lived in anticipation of death to free them from this life of isolation. On becoming a widow, many women are viewed as burdens on the remaining family. While a tradition of burning widows has been outlawed, their remaining life is referred to as a living version of such.

Upon the death of a partner, women are traditionally forbidden to remarry while men are free to do so. In light of the reality that many women marry when young, this means that many will be handed a life of destitute loneliness for a long portion of their remaining life.

The woman above receives support from Zakat Foundation of India, and the good people that give of their earnings in accordance to their Muslim beliefs.

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Widow, Courtyard of Mosque, Zakat Foundation of India, Old Delhi, India, November, 2008

Like many in her situation, this widow feels neglected by her Society and her family as well.

With the help of Zakat Foundation of India, she receives a supply of goods on a monthly basis. The widows gather on a busy street next to a mosque, provide the foundation with their identification and wait in line for their turn.

The scene is calm, with women standing and sitting in groups sharing stories. The difficulty in their lives is unimaginable, and they present themselves with dignity and humility. The goods are made possible by donations from devout Muslims as part of their faith. It has been my experience to witness people walking in from the street, calculating their donation according to their financial standing and then making that donation on the spot.

On this day, her portrait is made in the courtyard of the mosque, the only calm place available for us in the area. Outside the streets are incredibly busy and filled with activity. In the mosque all is calm and quiet. The women arrange themselves on the floor and wait for their time. We find a white wall to act as our background and one by one they stand for their portrait. Some faces are covered, others are bare. Nonetheless they express a tiny but considerable part of their struggle through the lens, for us to experience.

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Halim Ina Photography